Friday, 28 March 2008

Only ‘Girls Allowed’ for new KIT KAT® SENSES™Girls Aloud launch new KIT KAT®

Two British icons, KIT KAT® and Girls Aloud, today officially announced they are working together to launch the brand new KIT KAT® SENSES™

The link up will see the British five-piece fronting a TV and print ad campaign, which will embrace the KIT KAT® sense of humour and highlights KIT KAT® SENSES™ as being perfect for those indulgent breaks that women across the UK crave during their hectic lifestyles.

KIT KAT® SENSES TM will offer the crispy wafer and smooth milk chocolate we all know and love – but combined with a light praline centre providing a more indulgent break.

The new SENSES TM bar has been designed with five individual pieces that not only retain the much-loved KIT KAT® snap, but also allow each piece to be savoured individually to make the experience last.

The launch campaign will include a full marketing programme, including TV and press advertising, from April; and in-store marketing; PR and endorsement; and headline sponsorship of the largest Girls Aloud tour to date – ‘Tangled Up’ this May and June.

Notes to editors• KIT KAT® will be available nationwide from March 2008, RRP 45p • KIT KAT® is the UK’s number 1 biscuit brand • Over 1 Billion KIT KAT® bars are eaten every year • Total Kit Kat brand grew 10% in 2007, as more and more consumers enjoyed a KIT KAT break• 37 KIT KAT® bars are eaten EVERY second! • Four Fingers is designed for the classic 15 minute coffee break, two fingers for a family break and CHUNKY for a break on the go • Nearly 70% of KIT KAT® consumers…are currently male! • At full speed a bar of KIT KAT® CHUNKY is wrapped every 0.03 seconds! • If you laid out a year’s production of KIT KAT® CHUNKY it would stretch from Land’s End to John O’Groats a total of 5 ½ times! • KIT KAT® was created in 1935 under the brand name “Rowntree’s Chocolate Crisp”. It changed to KIT KAT® in 1937 • KIT KAT® changed to a blue wrapper in 1945, when it was produced with a plain chocolate covering due to a shortage of milk following the war (this ended in 1947SOURCE – Nestle Rowntree

Monday, 17 March 2008

As part of its continued investment in its Vintage clothing and footwear lines, Fila has produced a short film using the brand’s ambassadors, Danny Dyer and Tamer Hassan aimed to attract cult fans of the actors and the brand as well as creating Talkability® for a wider audience. The gangster style film, to be unveiled at the end of February, focuses on the new pre-distressed footwear style, Centre Court, and reveals the product within a clever twist in the final scenes. Produced by Red Bee Media and directed by Marcus Jones, the short film was shot on location at East London haunt, The George Tavern, and surrounding gritty backstreets.

Frank PR will be implementing an aggressive seeding program, introducing the viral film to key online media channels including men’s style titles, music, film, national news sites and networking/fan sites. This is the first time Fila has created a film to engage a purely online demographic.

Centre Court, the first of a collection of trainers which have been aged carefully to replicate a perfectly loved and lived in trainer from the 80’s, are the focus for the plot in the film and Dyer and Hassan’s ‘mission’. The tagline, ‘Fila- We break them in for you…Get the Look Without the Effort’ summarises the carefully scuffed and discoloured aesthetic of each trainer.

Fila UK Marketing Manager, Marc Travis says ‘Fila is looking to further strengthen the brand positioning following the success of the Vintage and Gold apparel collections and the opportunity of working with Danny and Tamer and this slick and humorous viral provides a great platform to achieving this. We expect the online viral to create a further buzz around the brand, while sparking interest from our consumers and creating talkability® for Fila stockists nationwide.’

The viral film will also be entered into a variety of industry short film festivals. The film supports a key Vintage style within their most comprehensive collection to date and is a testament to Fila’s firm grasp on everything retro.-ENDS-

Notes to Editors:· Centre Court will be available from selected retailers and on-line stores· Wholesale prices £ 34.10· Produced by Red Bee Media with creative direction from Frank PR

One of TV’s best-loved ad characters is back! After years away from the silver screen, Honey Monster makes a welcome return and is back bigger and better than ever before.

Fronting a new £3.2m multimedia campaign, the new TV ad launches on 10th March for Honey Monster Foods’ Sugar Puffs, Honey waffles and Honey Meltz range of breakfast cereals.

Remaining true to the tradition of him being a fun character that families everywhere would love to have at their breakfast tables, the ad features Honey Monster and his housemate performing a rap-like ditty inspired by their favourite cereal. Their little ritual ends with the tagline ‘Feed the fun’, and is set to achieve talkability with people up and down the country trying to sing along.

So next time you’re tucking in to a bowl of Sugar Puffs, Honey Waffles or Honey Meltz cereals, enjoy the wholesome goodness and delicious taste while singing Honey Monster’s mad song:

“Sugar Puffs, Sugar Puffs HUP!Honey coated puffs in a milky bathPut ‘em in your mouth and they make you laughKept in the cupboard taken out for breakfastSpoon’s best friend and the fridge’s favouriteHuff! Puff! Huff-puff!Huff! Puff! Huff-puff!Wheaty chums that settle in transitGolden pips of a sunshine princess”

Wednesday, 12 March 2008

- UK celebs have personalised sports balls, encouraging young people to help raise money for Sport Relief using a ball -

British rockers Kasabian, pop diva Mutya Buena and the cast of EastEnders have teamed together to come up with enterprising ways to support ‘Make your Mark with a Ball’, an initiative raising money for Sport Relief.

Celebrities were asked to get creative and customise a sports ball – whether it be by autographing it or decorating it in whatever weird and wacky style they chose. The balls are set to be bidded for by the public on auction site eBay, with all proceeds going to Sport Relief.

The entire cast of EastEnders autographed a group of three different sports balls during filming and Kasabian tested their creativity with some personalised footballs and rugby balls. Tom Meighan from Kasabian commented: “Not only is this a worthy cause but it’s so easy to get involved; we had a real laugh customising our football after a kick-about – we’ll let you guess which one of us the feathered fella is meant to be!”

Punters can bid for their favourite celeb balls on auction site eBay from 6thnd -16th March with all proceeds going to the Sport Relief campaign – www.sportrelief.com .

As well as bidding for their favourite celebrity item people can also get involved directly. Make Your Mark with a Ball is a national competition encouraging people to come up with innovative and enterprising ways to raise as much money as possible for Sport Relief 2008, using a ball or balls. There are a number of prizes on offer including the popular iPod touch and children’s books and audio books, available for the best ideas in a number of categories.

The potential for moneymaking ‘with a ball’ is enormous and anyone can have a go. From getting your community to sponsor you for every hour of ‘keepie uppie’ you achieve to pooling the enterprise talents of peers to create the world’s largest ball (and charging to see it), judges are confident there will be some amazing ingenuity shown by entrants.

Sporting greats such as Paula Radcliffe and Sir Steve Redgrave have also shown their support for the campaign. Paula says: “Make Your Mark with a Ball and help raise money for Sport Relief. Running a marathon is tough, but it’s easy to get involved in this; all you need is a ball and an idea!”

Scott Cain from Make Your Mark says: “Good ideas can come from everywhere and everyone, so whether you’re into sports or just like coming up with new money-making schemes, Make Your Mark with a Ball is for you. As the celebrity creations have shown, all you need to do, is start with a ball, bounce some ideas around, and let the creative juices flow.”

Sport Relief is a UK-wide fundraising event that aims to harness the power and passion of sport to change lives for the better. By taking part in Sport Relief and raising much needed money you’re helping to make the world of difference.

The Sport Relief Weekend takes place on Friday 14th – Sunday 16th March. Go to sportrelief.com to find out more. The money raised will be spent by Comic Relief to transform lives here in the UK and across the world’s poorest countries.

For more information about the Make Your Mark with a Ball competition, prizes and how to enter, sporting entrepreneurs can go to www.makeyourmark.org/withaball and download an entrants’ pack.

The new Merchant Square development from European Land is set to go from worksite to urban gallery, as a bold art installation created by landscape architecture specialists James Glancy Design, famed for the Carnaby Street Plug and Socket installation, is unveiled.

In a clever twist on a busy construction site, where the canal has been drained to enable further work in the area, James Glancy Design will install a ‘Plug and Hole’ artwork, creating a novel and fun focal point, visually representing the empty canal.

The Plug and Hole took six men to install and will remain at Merchant Square until the northern section of the canal is re-filled.

As London prepares for the 2012 Olympic Games, the capital is paying more attention to its urban aesthetic and Paul Dart, creative director at James Glancy Design, predicts we will start seeing more artworks of this nature as London lends inspiration from European counterparts like Barcelona.

“People become numbed by the permanency of the buildings and infrastructure that make up the urban landscape and installation works like this create surprise and capture people’s imagination by making everyday objects come to life.”

James Glancy Design was responsible for many of the Christmas lighting decorations around the UK last year, including the bright over-sized paper chains in Carnaby Stree and the Christmas lighting displays in The Birmingham Bullring, the Galleria in Hatfield, The O2, St Christopher’s Place, Marylebone High Street, Piccadilly Arcade, and many more.

DORITOS TO BROADCAST THE FIRST EVER ADVERT INTO SPACE AND OUT TO THE UNIVERSE

The world’s first ever commercial advertising campaign is to be broadcast into space, Doritos announced today. Doritos, as part of its new ‘You Make It, We Play It’ initiative, is asking the British public to shoot a 30-second ad that will be beamed past the Earth’s atmosphere and into the Universe, to anyone ‘out there’ that may be watching. The winning ad will also be aired on the more conventional medium of British television.

The space bound ad will be broadcast from a 500MHz Ultra High Frequency Radar from the EISCAT Space Centre in Svalbard, Norway. The transmission is being directed at a solar system just 42 light years away from Earth with planets that orbit its star ‘47 Ursae Majoris’ (UMa). 47 UMa is located in the ‘Ursa Major’ or Great Bear Constellation. It is very similar to our Sun and hosts a habitable zone that could potentially harbour small terrestrial planets and support life similar to ours.

Peter Charles, Head of the Doritos Broadcast Project said: “We are constantly looking to push the boundaries of advertising and this new campaign will go further than any brand has gone before. By broadcasting the winning ad to the Universe, Doritos is delivering a world first and giving someone from this country the chance to go down in advertising folklore. We also shouldn’t be too surprised if the first aliens that arrive on planet Earth immediately demand a bag of Doritos.”

The Doritos Broadcast Project is being undertaken in association with expert astronomers and academics from Leicester University and is also being supported by EISCAT (The European Incoherent SCATter Scientific Association), which studies solar-planetary interactions and operate a series of radar systems, including the Svalbard based transmitter.

Professor Tony van Eyken, Director of EISCAT, said: “Broadcasting an advert extra terrestrially is a big and exciting step for everyone on Earth as up until now we have only tended to listening for incoming transmissions. There have been reports that NASA beamed a Beatles song towards the Polaris star system, though as this is a 1,000 light year round trip, it’s highly unlikely it will ever be received by extra-terrestrials. With the transmission technology and planning we are employing there is a much greater chance that the Doritos advert will potentially be seen by billions of aliens.”

In addition to going down in the advertising annals for this unique first, the filmmaker responsible for the winning ad will also win £20,000. Entries to the Doritos’ ‘You Make It, We Play It’ competition can be submitted via the Doritos website -www.doritos.co.uk. The deadline for entries is midnight on May 18. The extra-terrestrial broadcast is scheduled for June 12, and the ad will be aired on British TV from June 15.

Tuesday, 11 March 2008

One of Britain’s most loved brands, KIT KAT, today announces the launch of a brand new KIT KAT®, specifically created to appeal to women – “KIT KAT® SENSES TM”.

The biggest KIT KAT® since CHUNKY was revealed in 1999, KIT KAT® SENSES TM will hit shelves nationwide in March 2008.

KIT KAT® SENSES TM will offer the crispy wafer and smooth milk chocolate we all know and love – but combined with a praline centre providing a lighter indulgence.

The new SENSES TM bar has been designed with five individual pieces that not only retain the much-loved KIT KAT® snap, but also allow each piece to be savoured individually to make the experience last longer.

And with only 165 Calories per bar, KIT KAT® SENSES TM is a lighter indulgence, that women can enjoy everyday, without having to worry about the calorie count.

A Nestle spokesperson commented:“KIT KAT® has always been rooted in breaks with each one tailored towards a different occasion and from March 10th women across the UK will be able to enjoy a sensational new break with the addition of KIT KAT® SENSES TM to our range. SENSES TM will address the special breaks that women look forward to during a hectic day. We are also aware that people are more conscious about what they eat, which is why we have developed a product which only contains 165 calories, yet still delivers a great tasting chocolate experience”

Amsprop Estates, the property vehicle of Sir Alan Sugar, today announces the launch of its new web site: www.amsprop.com

The comprehensive website offers a wide range of functions and tools designed to make the site a one stop shop for users ranging from potential investors through to lawyers and tenants. The site gives users instant data on the entire Amsprop portfolio. State of the art technology allows users to pull up details such as legal documentation, leases, floor plans, letting schedules, drawings and licences within seconds.

Site features include:- A0 Zoom: allowing users to zoom into great detail on AO or A1 lease plans whilst keeping compression file sizes down to manageable levels- Character Recognition Software: Applied throughout all documentation allowing users to search for key terms at the click of a button- Full legal selling packs available within seconds- Time and property specific encrypted passwords allowing third parties to look at details of any property within portfolio

Commenting on the website, Daniel Sugar said “We felt there was a need to have instant data on any of our portfolio at our finger tips. Simon Ambrose was tasked together with our IT manager to develop this site. It is a massively useful tool for all of us at Amsprop.”

Commenting on this, Simon Ambrose said “The brief given to me was to first of all collate all of the data traditionally held by lawyers or in our complex hard copy filing systems and get them into a format where they could be easily accessed by any of our team. In simple terms, the amount of data available through this site is enough to fill up 10 large filing cabinets. Now, you can get to anything specific you want in seconds. The donkey work is over thanks to the combined effort of the IT people and myself. The site can, and will, be updated regularly to add new acquisitions, new leases and amendments or any major structural changes to any of the properties within the Amsprop portfolio”.

Commenting on this new web site, Sir Alan Sugar said “ At first glance, one sees a nice web site and may wonder what’s so special, it’s just another web site, but when you delve beneath the surface it will become abundantly clear to any one in the property world, what a remarkable facility this is.”

Amsprop have decided to licence this technology to another group company, Viglen Technology Ltd www.viglen.co.uk so they can offer the same service to other property investment companies. Viglen are a separate entity, thus ensuring confidentiality and offering arms length independence. Viglen’s existing customer base includes government and public service organisations where confidentiality and security is paramount.

Women from around the UK, including model Nell McAndrew, stripped bare to launch Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life 2008 in chilly London. United by their individual cancer experiences, the women braved the cold to take part in a naked training session to highlight that every woman in the UK is invited to take part in the Race for Life series, whatever their age, shape, size and fitness level.

All the women who took part, including Nell, have their own connection to cancer, with the group including cancer nurses, survivors of the disease and those with close relatives who have been affected by cancer.

The training event, which took place in London’s Regents Park in temperatures a little above freezing, saw the participants’ blushes only covered by body-painted event running numbers and pink commemorative back signs. Nell, 34, took the group through its paces ahead of the Race for Life 2008 series that runs from the beginning of May until the end of July this year.

Now in its 15th year, Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life is the largest women-only fundraising event in Britain. Women are invited to walk, jog or run 5k at over 260 events across the UK this summer. The charity is hoping that 750,000 women will come together and help raise over £50 million for research into all forms of cancer.

Nell McAndrew said: “Having a naked training session is a bit of fun but it highlights a serious message – that Cancer Research UK is fighting to beat cancer and the only way to do that is by working together. I personally have been supporting Cancer Research UK for many years now. In that time my Dad, Ted, was diagnosed with non Hodgkin’s lymphoma and has since been told he’s in remission, so I always take part in Race for Life in celebration of him. Cancer Research UK’s Race for Life 2008 is for everybody, because it’s not about how fit you are, it’s about taking part and raising money to beat cancer.”

One of the participants in the naked session, Tracey Barraclough from Leeds, said: “When I first heard the idea of a naked training session I was a bit nervous, but once I met the rest of the women and heard everyone’s moving and inspirational stories we all flung off our robes and didn’t want to stop. It’s so important that any woman who sees this realises that they too can be part of Race for Life and help change lives. I think when it comes round to my local Race for Life event though; I’ll keep my clothes on!

“Cancer Research UK is a really personal charity to me – my mother, grandmother and great-grandmother all died of ovarian cancer and I inherited a genetic mutation so I chose to have a double mastectomy and full hysterectomy as a preventative measure. The great thing about Cancer Research UK is that its work is not just about breast cancer, but all types of cancer. I’ve not had cancer myself but cancer research has saved my life, because without the research, I don’t know where I’d be.”

Another participant, Vivienne McBeth, taking part in the Ayr Race for Life, said: “I’m doing this today to raise awareness for Cancer Research UK so that more women take part in Race for Life. You don’t have to actually ‘race’ it – you can walk and talk on the way round. I became personally involved back in 2005 when I was diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumour. The year following my surgery and treatment I wanted to give something back and my way of doing that was through Cancer Research UK and Race for Life seemed the perfect choice as my friends and family could take part with me.”

Lorraine O’Mahoney, from Milton Keynes, said: “I felt so liberated today and I can show that there is life after having a breast off. I couldn’t do Race for Life two years ago because I was undergoing chemotherapy but I managed to do it last year and I felt so proud. My little boy was so excited to see mummy cross the finishing line. Race for Life is fantastic because you realise you are not alone in being affected by cancer but that together you can help beat it.”

Each Race for Life event covers a distance of 5k, encouraging women of all ages and levels of fitness to participate. Women can enter Race for Life 2008 by visiting www.raceforlife.org or calling 0871 641 2282.

About Cancer Research UK:• Together with its partners and supporters, Cancer Research UK’s vision is to beat cancer.• Cancer Research UK carries out world-class research to improve understanding of the disease and find out how to prevent, diagnose and treat different kinds of cancer.• Cancer Research UK ensures that its findings are used to improve the lives of all cancer patients.• Cancer Research UK helps people to understand cancer, the progress that is being made and the choices each person can make.• Cancer Research UK works in partnership with others to achieve the greatest impact in the global fight against cancer. • For further information about Cancer Research UK’s work or to find out how to support the charity, please call 020 7009 8820 or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org.uk